“Harlem Bridge” (oil on canvas), by Anthony Dyke, a Norwich,, Vt., native who lives in Boston, at the “One Plus One’’ show at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through Feb. 25.
‘Poetry of their corpses’
“Hark,” (pastel), by Fu’una, in the show “Måhålang (Longing)”, at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through Jan. 28.
The artist says:
“There are few things more consistent in my life than a sense of longing. To be Pacific Islander on the East Coast is to feel like a part of you is always missing. In my trips to Guåhan (Guam) I’ve learned to make the most of my time. I gather images and ideas that feed my creative practice. This practice has helped me connect to wherever I am living.
“In an era where we spend 90 percent of our lives in artificial environments, I find joy in the flora and fauna that indicate where you are. But biodiversity continues to shrink as land is eaten up by condos and shopping centers. For years I would draw dead animals not just for the poetry of their corpses but for the simple fact that we are an invasive species that has disrupted once thriving habitats. I seek out what I can find and compose them in my paintings into bouquets of animals, florals, and text.
“The antidote to måhålang is presence and connection. My large-scale paintings hint at memories of immersion and claim physical space where my subjects can live in perpetuity.’’
‘Layers of time’
“Facade” (hand-woven and Jacquard-woven fabric, knitting, paint), by Maris Van Vlack, in the show “The Blu of Distance,’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, Jan. 3-Jan. 28
The gallery explains:
"‘The Blue of Distance’ features a series of textile objects that combine weaving, knitting, and paint to create layered and dimensional images referencing architecture, family history, and abandoned landscapes.
“The imagery is drawn from an archive of family photographs, using layering of material as a process through which to explore the way that landscapes evolve overtime through geological and historical events. Each of these pieces function as a window through which to see layers of time and memory, and depict spaces that exist between the past and the present.’’
Seal of the New England Historic Genealogical Society
‘Beauty of impermanence’
Work by North Adams-based artist Tom Schneider in his show “Ecstatic Gates,’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through Oct. 29.
The gallery says:
“Tom Schneider’s current series, ‘Ecstatic Gates,’ is a collection of 13 wall sculptures. Each piece is a miniature shrine or chapel and expresses the ethereal duality of the eternal and finite.
“Inspired by the beauty of impermanence, each piece incorporates bones, natural fibers, and decaying wood grains. The shimmer of gold peeking through the doors offers the suggestion of what lies beyond our world.
“Schneider’s sculptures are influenced by the elegant lines of Asian architecture and the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi. They thereby honor imperfection, transience, the rawness of the natural world, and the beauty found in small and humble things.’
The Hoosic River runs through North Adams and was essential to its growth, providing power for the mills that were built along its banks as well as those of its branches. Many artists can be found in surviving mill buildings today.
The Norad Mill, in North Adams. The woolen factory was built in 1863 in an Italianate style and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
— Photo by Beyond My Ken
The architecture of language
From Massachusetts artist Sarah Hulsey’s show “Source Material,’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through July 2
She says:
“My work is concerned with the architecture that underpins language, which we use effortlessly but with little awareness of its beauty and complexity. Even a simple sentence has layers and layers of organization, governed by a complex set of rules and interactions happening below the level of our conscious knowledge. Small pieces of information (atomic components, as it were) combine into ever larger units within the concurrent linguistic systems at play. These components are organized into elegant structures that exist only in the mind. In my artwork, I analyze these structures and create visual correlates, looking for poetry and resonance in the rich patterns that emerge. ‘‘
I compose abstract frameworks by building up nested and connected forms set within reticulated grids. Networks of these grids serve as armatures on which small elements abut, merge, and grow into higher order objects. In these pages, the underlying structures of sentences are segmented, excerpted, and then recombined into forms reflecting their core, essential relationships.
‘A country seen in dreams’
“Turn Back” (oil on panel); “Crossing” (mixed stoneware clay), by Elizabeth Strasser, in her show “Some Other Country,’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through April 30.
The show description:
“These paintings evolved from a sense of unease, bred by recent events. The paintings do not present a particular memory or scenario but an emotional response, a reaction to a sense of disbelief and dislocation. The paintings were curative, a remedy for and revelation of the essence of my lived experience.
“In the paintings an atmospheric landscape surrounds a naked or mysteriously cloaked figure. Their backs are turned away from the viewer, the faces obscured. Each figure stands alone or in ambiguous relation to another figure. The locations are unspecified. This is ‘some other country’ – a country seen in dreams.
“The ceramic pieces function as a further exploration of the paintings. With special emphasis on surfaces, the vessels were created by forming, carving and adding clay pieces and mineral additives. They carry the emotional intensity formed by the mysterious ceramic alchemy of earth, water and fire.’’
New joys
“Release” (charcoal and pastel), by Lesley Cohen, in her show “Light Matters,’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through April 30.
The gallery says:
“This series of drawings serve as a metaphor for the new possibilities of joy that can be received as we re-enter and re-engage with the world outside. The world is generously reopening its magical portal for us in shimmering waves that surprise and delight. The inspirational effects can be almost breathtaking and we can rejoice in finally being able to attend. And as we reemerge, the light enters. We have plenty to celebrate. Let the magic begin.’’
No conditioner needed
“Hirsute Queen Eumelanin” (human and synthetic hair, Black-Faced Sheep horns, tanned and dyed fish skin), in Cambridge, Mass.-based Jenn Levatino’s show, “The Keratin Series,” at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through Oct. 30. These drawings and sculptures are inspired by animal remains and hairstyles in ancient Roman portraiture.
Water view
Betsyann Duval: “Whales’ View” (oil/wax on plaster and canvas), by Betsyann Duval, in her show “Stream of Unconsciousness,’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through Oct. 2.
The gallery says her “artworks explore the current madness of our political, cultural and sexual” context.
When he just trying to have fun
“They Thought He Was Dangerous” (mixed media on canvas), by Massachusetts artist and teacher Chandra Mendez-Ortiz, in the group show “The Long View: What Do You See (Do You See Me!),’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, June 29-July 31. The gallery says the show explores “a space where one reflects but imagines forward.’’
Manmade and thus disposable
"Car and Candy Bar” (acrylic on panel), by Groton, Mass.-based Caleb Brown, in his show “Playdate,’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through May 1.
The gallery says that the show consists of still-life paintings of “personal ephemera arranged as on a child’s whim and then left behind, as though a play date has just ended.
“Cut from Masonite panels, the still lifes evoke an unfussy trompe l'oeil style.’’
Gibbet Hill in Groton. According to tradition, the name comes from an incident in Colonial times when a Native American was hung at the summit of the hill. Wikipedia: “A gibbet is any instrument of public execution, but gibbeting refers to the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of criminals were hanged on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals.’’
— Photo by John Phelan
….what hit them
“They Never Even Knew’’ (acrylic and Sharpie on canvas), by Massachusetts-based artist (and robotics engineer) Blake Brasher, in his show “Experiencing Something,” through March 27, at Bromfield Gallery, Boston. The show is of mixed-media paintings on canvas or Yupo that act as abstract mind-scapes.
'The return of hope'?
“Parades and Popsicles” (acrylic on canvas), by Amantha Tsaros, in her show “Feral Joy,’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through Nov. 28.
The gallery describes her show as “lively forms in paintings that celebrate the return of hope.’’
She’s based in Lexington, Mass.
“The Old Belfry’’ in Lexington. From the original version of this structure a bell was rung to warn townspeople of advancing British troops before the battles of Lexington and Concord, on April 19, 1775, the first major battles of the American Revolution. It’s rung every April 19 at 5:30 a.m. in celebration of that day.
— Photo by Oeoi
Filing away calm moments
“Dusk III (detail)” (encaustic, oil and 23-karat gold leaf on panel), by Dietlind Vander Schaaf, in her show “We Are Poems,’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, Nov. 3-28. The gallery says that her paintings evoke brief moments of balance and stillness.
She lives in Portland, Maine.
Moulton Street in Portland’s Old Port section. The city is a major arts center.
— Photo by Bd2media
Language structures
“Figures of Speech” ((detail), etching and letterpress), by Somerville, Mass.-based Sarah Hulsey, in her show “Lexical Geometry,’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, Sept. 29-Oct. 31.
The gallery says:
“Sarah Hulsey's work portrays the patterns and structures that comprise our universal instinct for language. In this body of work, she uses schematic forms and letterpress text to explore connections across the lexicon.’’
Looking at 'Water through the lens of climate change'
“Watermark” (acrylic on Yupo), by Greater Boston-based Patty Stone, in her show “Watermark’’, at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, Sept. 1-26. Many of her paintings have been inspired by her close observation of the Charles River.
The gallery says:
“Patty Stone investigates the movement of water through the lens of climate change in a new series of abstract paintings and works on paper. Watermark juxtaposes a fluid paint surface against geometric shapes and lines of measurement suggesting rising tides or changing shorelines.’’
The Charles River at the Medfield-Millis (Mass.) town line
But you usually can't see the dangerous part
“Floating Island’’ (oil and mixed media on paper), by Kata Hull, in the group show of New England artists titled “Cool” at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through Aug. 22.
The gallery says:
“Chilly, poised, nerveless, refreshing, brilliant. This exhibition features art work that helps everyone cool of in the heat of the summer.’’
‘Are melted into air’
From Jennifer Day’s show “Vapors,’ June 30-Aug. 1, at Bromfield Gallery, Boston. The show consists of black-and-white paintings that explore how liquids, mist and light interact. Ms. Day is based in Newburyport.
Prospero’s soliloquy in Shakespeare’s The Tempest:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
The Custom House Maritime Museum, in Newburyport
“Hunter in the Meadows of Old Newburyport, Massachusetts” (c. 1873), by Alfred Thompson Bricher. The scene seems to be near the Little River. Route 1 (aka Boston Post Road) had an overlook easily accessible to artists. In the far right can be seen the ridge along the Merrimack River over which High Street runs. Cattle have been turned into the marsh for pasture, a practice still allowed on some marsh farms of the area in the late 19th Century.
Use what you can
“Untitled 2101” (kozo, flax, tarleton, wire), by Vivian Pratt, in her show “Transforming Fibers,’’ at Bromfield Gallery, Boston, through May 2.
Get out of town
“Dreaming (detail) (acrylic and collage), by Carla Munsat, in her show “Escape,’’ through May 2 at Bromfield Gallery, Boston
